fa la la la la

 

So it’s been awhile since I’ve written, mainly due to too much Christmas crafting and sickness in our house.  Both the husband and the child have been in various stages of colds, coughs and stuffiness for the past two weeks.  How is it that the person with the least amount of sleep/rest has been able to stay well???  Well here are a few highlights, more to come.

Made these pillows for a friend, a bird pillow and a leaf pillow – they turned out better than expected, which is always nice. 

And lastly, we bought a painting yesterday at the Collective in old Ballard.  We usually just wander around in there while I mutter about how I’ve seen this on craigslist or we should be able to find something like that at goodwill, when we came across this abstract painting.  It had no price so of course I asked, out of curiosity.  It reminded me of two paintings my parents have, which I love.  When I was little I remember studying them, trying to figure out what the shapes/colors were, imagined seeing clowns, or people, or animals etc.  So when I asked, the girl said I think it’s $75, but I need to check.  I thought, did she mean $75 or $7500?  I was pretty excited to hear $75.  She checked and it was actually $150.  But we got it for $130.  It does need a frame and has no signature but I really like it.  It was hanging in the shop vertically, but when we brought it home I thought it looked better like this. 

Here it is on our wall.

So which way do you think it goes?  A, B, C, or D?

spread the soft tree love :: eat peppermint bark

  

Finally I can share my soft trees with you!  I made a small forest of them for my siblings and mom for St. Nicholas’ Day which we celebrate (December 6) with small gifts and family dinner.  Thanks to littlebird for sharing her pattern and all the inspiration here.  Everyone liked them!  They are the perfect project for me at this point since they are super easy and quick.  We like instant results!  Now that I’ve given all mine away I need to make some for myself. 

We also put up our tree today – the husband is the light-put-er-on-er and he also ended up doing most of the ornament hanging :: once again he did an amazing job!  Little D was also enthralled by the glowing lights and shiny baubles.  He has also just started to crawl, meaning there is some forward motion to his floor movements.  Yay!

And I made peppermint bark.  When I was working in my pre-Little D days, one of my co-workers always brought us a tin of the Williams-Sonoma peppermint bark - I ate it in like one day, of course I shared it too – sort of!  And since I’m not working now I was missing it and decided to make some.  And with Little D around keeping me busy, I’m not eating as much of it.

t’s peppermint bark

Melt 1 lb semi-sweet chocolate in microwave, add 1/4 tsp peppermint extract.  Spread with offset spatula on parchment paper to about 1/8 inch thickness.  Cool.  Put in fridge for awhile.  Meanwhile smash 10 candy canes in ziploc baggy.  Take the now cooled semi-sweet chocolate out of fridge.  Melt 1lb white chocolate, add 1/4 tsp peppermint extract and 1/3 of the smashed candy canes.  Spread with offset spatula over semi-sweet.  Sprinkle remaining candy cane pieces on top.  Chill.  Cut or break into pieces.  Eat.

I used Ghiradelli chocolate chunks from Trader Joes. 

And if this doesn’t make you feel sad.

gifts for me… and for Little D

    

I am looking forward to receiving these items in the next few days:

- very cool pendant from blackapple (for me!)
- a very cute stuffed pea from blair (wise craft) to go along with the little pea (for Little D)
- the paintings above, number 5 Elm-er and 32 Obstacle, from Amy Ruppel (for me, but I really wanted 43 In Tune!)

Since I don’t have time to create I’m buying others creations!  Now I just have to get to those Christmas gifts.

Christmas is coming

So my family decided to mix it up this year and draw names.  I love seeing all the presents under the tree on Christmas Eve and finding/making the right gift for each person, so I was against it at first.  But after mulling it over I decided we could try it this year.  Only this year.  With the addition of two new spouses, one baby, and a sister that is freaking out about how many gifts we have to give, we decided that each kid/spouse will draw three names.  There are a total of six kids and three spouses.  Little D gets gifts from everyone, of course.   And I might still give “small” gifts to everyone I didn’t draw.

After hitting Target for the second time this week, I did score a Tord Boontje acrylic candelabra.  It’s red though.  I don’t think it will go with the rest of our holiday decor so it may be on it’s way back.  It’s rather pretty though, and if I could just find a spot for it I’d keep it.

But this LED luminaire image is pretty cool.